Hot Topics:

Mac's Place seeks to be the diner this neighborhood didn't have

By Tony KindelspireLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
05/25/2013 09:00:00 PM MDT

Owner and chef Keith Macphail delivers an order of french toast to a customer Thursday at Mac's Place in Longmont. Mac's is one of two new independent restaurants to open in Longmont.
(
Matthew Jonas
)

LONGMONT -- Timing is everything. And, say the owners, the time had come for Mac's Place.

Teresa MacPhail got sidetracked from her career as a cytologist -- she studied cells -- several years ago when she was laid off. Since her kids were just coming into school age at that time she took to volunteering countless hours at their school, along with working various jobs over the years.

Keith MacPhail's time as a corporate accountant came to an end in October when he was told his job had been outsourced. He had worked in a deli during high school and college, and she had experience in the kitchen as well, so maybe it was time to get serious about those chats they had had about opening up a restaurant together?

"It didn't take that long (to make a decision)," Keith MacPhail said. "It was a weekend maybe."

"Or maybe a week at the most," added Teresa.

Keith, who's from upstate New York, and Teresa, who's from Tennessee, bring different influences when it comes to cooking. But what they both wanted to do was create a homey place people would feel comfortable coming to. And the confidence they could make it work came from having cooked for others before.

Advertisement

"The whole time we'd been doing these catered dinners for our kids' school to raise money," Teresa said. That would be an auction prize, she said, and over the years the winning bid was higher and higher. Last October, when some out-of-towners were at one of those catered dinners, they raved about the food. This wasn't just their fellow parents trying to be polite, Teresa said, this was an unsolicited endorsement from strangers. Any doubts they had about their restaurant idea were squelched that night, she said.

It took a while to find a location for Mac's Place, Keith MacPhail said.

"Originally, the business plan called for us to be close to a business park or an office park," he said. Obviously, the Fox Creek Marketplace at 17th Avenue and Pace Street offers no such neighbor.

"Teresa and I live in the neighborhood here, we live at Ninth and Pace, and every time we wanted to go out somewhere for breakfast we had to go clear across town," Keith MacPhail said, adding that the more they talked to their neighbors, the more they kept hearing "there's nothing like that here. We need something like that here."

"Every good neighborhood deserves a good diner," Teresa said.

The couple are starting off by just serving their breakfast menu until June 1, then they'll be open for both breakfast and lunch. And along with their core menu items they'll be offering specials that will change daily, Keith said.

He had good things to say about some of the Economic Gardening programs the city of Longmont offers for start-up businesses. They took advantage of several of the classes, he said, which are always free or at very nominal cost.

"Anybody who doesn't take advantage of them is making a huge mistake," Keith MacPhail said.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story